


The Trip to Christmas

by TheChosenFerret



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Drarry, F/M, M/M, muggle road trip, slight slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-17 21:16:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16981947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheChosenFerret/pseuds/TheChosenFerret
Summary: After Draco randomly decides to take the muggle way of driving instead of the usual ways, he and Harry go on a 3 day long road trip to Ron and Hermione's for Christmas, but everything isn't all candy canes and sugar





	1. Day 1: December 21 (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had an idea to do one chapter of a story every day starting 12 days before Christmas before realizing that was seriously irrational cause I have no time, so I settled on one every other day during these 12 days. (Some back story, Harry and Draco work as Aurors together in the ministry and are fairly good friends rn after having to deal with each other for so long in the office.)
> 
> Hope y’all enjoy, the second half of this day should be out Saturday.

“Do you finally have everything?” Harry asked, holding open the truck of the car stuffed full with bags of Draco’s belongings and a few of his own, still trying to shove a few presents into the last remaining space, before finding it slightly futile unless he wanted little shards of everything instead, finally giving in and placing a few gifts in the back seat. 

“Do you really need all that stuff?”

“Yea, well, I need to be prepared,” Draco replies, tugging at his light jacket a bit to better protect himself from the light cold outside. 

“For?”

“Any emergency occasion.”

“Like running out of hair gel or a thread comes loose?”

“Yes, exactly, Potter.”

Harry sighed, throwing the last few items into the car and closing the back door with a nice bang. “All of that just for a three day trip?”

“More than three days, don’t forget the 2 days at Ron and Hermione’s for Christmas, then the trip back.”

“Tell me again why we’re going there in a car.”

“Because, Potter, out of everyone, you need some fresh air and open sky. Plus I need the practice.”

Harry breathed out, leaning on the car before regretting that almost immediately as the coldness from the hood spread up through his fingers to make the slightly cold day even colder. “Fine, but only because you’ve already bought the snacks.”

“Millions of mini candy canes can hardly be called a snack, but okay, if that’s what gets you on this trip then so be it.”

“They are too a snack.”

“Whatever you say, as long as it gets you in the car.”

Harry huffed, “Okay, let’s do this.” He walked over to the front door, holding it open and giving a slight bow as Draco approached.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?”

“Holding the door open like a gentleman, you know, spread a little kindness, you know.”

“Again, whatever gets you in the car,” Draco chuckled, climbing in as the door was gracefully shut behind him, the calmness of it lost a few moments later as Harry closed the trunk and practically slammed the door behind him as he got into his seat.

“You ready?”

“Of course I am, I’ve been training for this.... but maybe keep a healing spell at the ready, just in case.”

Harry pulled his wand out of his boot, holding it ready in his hand. “So, how long have you been driving?”

“Well I got a permit a week ago but I haven’t use it much since then, but we should be fine…”

“Yea… totally safe,” Harry rolled his eyes, reaching into the backseat and pulling out a mini candy cane before pulling the wrapper off it and sticking it whole in his mouth, making his cheeks extend to look like a little chipmunk before mumbling, “You ready?”

“Let’s do this.” Draco took a deep breath in, savoring the few last seconds of peace before what clearly is going to be a storm, gathering up his strength to look out the window as he pushed on the break and pulled the stick into drive, slowly releasing the breaks as the car started to slide down the pavement onto the street. Placing both hands firmly on the smooth, unused steering wheel, he moved his foot over to the gas as he pressed down just in time to turn onto the road, gaining speed as he made his way across the neighborhood at an astounding 10 mph.

“So, where exactly are we supposed to be going?” Draco asked, eyes still fixated on the road like his life depended on it, which it definitely did.

Harry finished off the candy cane with a crunch. “I thought you knew?”

“Well I’ve still never actually been there before, so I was hoping you would know.”

“Hey, they only moved a month ago, and when I went I didn’t need to know the directions to get there.” 

“Wait, I think there may be a map somewhere in here.” Harry remembered as he reached down, opening the glove box and rummaging through all the papers and books before pulling out a crumpled and only barely torn map of the United Kingdom.

“There,” Harry said, pointing at the map, “Inverness, Scotland, that’s the place.”

“And how far is that?”

“Only 9 hours.”

“9 hours? I thought you said it would take 3 days.”

“Yea, we’re starting really late tonight so we can get through 2 hours tonight, 6 hours tomorrow -there’s lots of sights to see on the way there so I can just assume that we’re gonna wanna take a lot of breaks and we’ll need lots of sleep, then we can finish the last hour on Sunday, easy.”

“Why do you think that we’re going to take so long doing things other than driving?”

“Well, there’s so many good restaurants out there that we need to try and if we go too fast, we won’t be hungry enough to enjoy all of them. Plus after last month at the auror office, I know that you need at least some open air, so why not now.”

“Potter, you more than me need the fresh air. At least on my missions I was able to go outside, most of yours were spent underground.”

“Hey, you were only outside for a few seconds, that doesn’t mean you enough vitamin D.”

“Pff, fine,” Draco laughed, making the car slow down to a halt as he approached a stop light in the middle of a cross section. “So, what direction am I supposed to go in?”

Harry took his finger and started to trace the lines on the map. “Umm.. North I believe so… keeping going forwards?”

“If you say so.” As the light turned green, Draco could already hear the cars behind him getting ready to speed across. _You’ve got this,_ Draco thought to himself, _no one’s going to run into you, you’ll be fine._ Half a centimeter at a time, Draco slowly pushed at the gas, already trying to hide his fear as the car gradually started to move once again. 

“Wait!” At the sudden noise, barely taking time to figure out what Harry said, Draco slammed the breaks in a panic, making them jolt forwards and causing a few cars behind them to attack their horns. “We need to go Southwest, actually, so go left.”

“Merlin’s beard, Potter, do you want to give me a heart attack?”

“Only a small one don’t worry.”

With the cars behind him as angry as they could be, Draco placed his still slightly shaky hands back on the steering wheel, flipping on the radio as he pushed the gas, making the car begin to move once again as he turned the wheel as carefully as he could, feeling the wheels turn as they slide over to the next road, officially beginning the long trek.


	2. Day 1: December 21 (Part 2)

“What do you mean you don’t like gingerbread cookies?” Harry asked, already crunching down on his 15th mini candy cane in the over 2 hours drive of the night as they entered into Birmingham.

“I just never really cared for them, that’s all.”

“But they’re a classic for a reason, you’ll see. Once we get to Ron’s, I’ll have him whip up the best batch that you’ll ever taste in your life.”

“Oh really, and what makes them so great?”

“Well, they… it’s hard to explain, but you’ll absolutely love them. Mrs. Weasley made them for us all the time, and Ron always helped out. They’re the best things on this Earth.”

Draco chuckled, “Well, in the meantime, do you mind passing me another candy cane?”

“Only if you agree that you’ll try and love the cookies.”

“I can agree to try them, but I can’t say I will fall as head over heels in love with them as you have.”

“Deal,” Harry replied, passing an unwrapped candy cane into Draco’s open hand that immediately stuck it in his mouth.

“So where is this hotel you were talking about?”

“Just up the road past the roundabout.”

“Really, you just had to pick one where I have to deal with the hell of those things.”

“What? They’re so fun.”

“Not when you have to drive through them.” Draco gripped on the steering wheel more, taking a second to mentally prepare himself before he drove into the mess of cars going in an endless circle. _This is easy,_ Draco though, _you’ve survived last hectic month at the ministry, stared death in the face, and you’ve already driven for 2 almost straight hours, you can easy do this._

Slightly slowing down all the cars behind him, Draco only had to go around the circle twice before he finally got enough courage to pull the car out of the endless cycle, further reminding him why he was not and will never be a Gryffindor, being brave is just too much work in these situations. 

In a few minutes, they finally arrived at a cozy stone house covered with snow. Everything inside was already pitch black other than a large window at the front with a light shining brightly through, illuminating the front side of the house enough for them to get to the door to ring the doorbell. Before the ring could finish, a tall lady threw open the door holding a little clipboard, her face grinning from the sight of more customers. 

“Hello, welcome to the prince hotel! Please come in.” She moved over to a little desk next to a set of stairs, becoming them in. Before either of them could get another word out, she continued with her speech.“So would you like a queen bed for the both of y’all, we still have one for a good price.”

“Um, no-” Harry replied, looking over at Draco in an attempt to have him explain it all before placing a one small bag he brought on the floor so that it could fall over onto Draco’s bag- “we’re just friends.” 

“Oh sorry, it just that from the way you looked it- never mind. Well then we have two twin sized beds that would be good for you two, if you don’t mind sharing a room.”

“That sounds great, thanks,” Draco replied, pulling out his wallet. 

“Okay, one night will be 40 pounds.”

Draco looked down at his coins in his pocket, already realizing his mistake of not bringing any muggle cash. Not really knowing how many sickles are in a pound, Draco gave up and tried to give the least noticeable nudge to Harry to prompt him to open up his wallet and handle this for them, which worked for a second before the way too long silence took over them, making the lady look through her book for a second before asking, “You do have the money, right?”

“Uh yea,” Draco managed to mumble out, “I just happened to bring the wrong currency but I’m sure we have some mugg- I mean money somewhere, right?” Draco shot Harry a glare, trying to urge him to get the hint and save the day.

“Oh, don’t worry, we can take whatever currency you have, where is it from?”

“Uh, not near here.” Draco stuttered out, hoping that Harry can find the money quick before they have to do an unfortunate memory wipe spell. 

“Of course it’s not from here, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Um, it from…” Draco glanced over to see Harry hurriedly rummaging through his bag, “Harry, where exactly is it from.”

“Here,” Harry replied, pulling out muggle currency from his bag, handing it to the lady. 

Counting the money under her breath, she put it in a little container before turning behind her and grabbing a key from a drawer in the desk and handing it to Harry. “Have a good night’s sleep, your room is just up these stairs and the first door on the right.”

Collecting the bags, Draco began the hike to their room, pausing for a bit at the top to let Harry go before him to open up the door. 

Inside, the room was painted a lilac color with a a few walls painted a more whitish color. In the room, there was a door which they could only assume went into the bathroom, a little desk, a window, and two twin beds on the wall. The beds both had a fake gold outlining and white sheets that didn’t look too comfy but it was better than having to share a bed, right? 

Already making his way over to the bed closest to the window, Harry tossed the key on the desk and flopped down on the bed spreading out as his eyes were already drifting out of this reality, the moonlight from the window shining right on him as tiredly pointed over to the other bed, urging Draco to follow in his footsteps and act like its the comfiest thing in the world, which it was starting to look more and more like as Draco’s brain finally caught up to just how late it was and that it was definitely time to head to bed. 

“Goodnight Potter,” Draco whispered, climbing into bed after grabbing a book from his bag to attempt at reading in what little light there was. 

“Goodnight Draco,” Harry whispered back, clearly already too asleep to render anything that could happen to him now. Draco smiled, leaning back on his pillow with his book open in his hands, too tired to be surprised at hearing his actual name leave Harry’s mouth like it didn’t mean a thing.


	3. Day 2: December 22 (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't mind this being a day late, I was off of tumblr yesterday so I didn't want to post this before the one on there. <3

“Good morning sleepy head,” Draco said, sitting at the desk, happily drinking his tea as the light from the window illuminated the room, watching Harry slowly sit up, rubbing his eyes before they finally fluttered open. 

“Ugh, what time is it?”

“Past noon. You missed the breakfast downstairs, they had some strange muggle foods that were surprisingly delicious.”

Harry sat up, stretching his back before putting his first foot on the food, grabbing a new pair of clothes from his bag, and making his way over to the restroom. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I did, but you didn’t wake, and I didn’t really want to try to get you out of your eternal sleep with a kiss.” Harry glared at him, his belly rumbling as Draco continued. “Besides, I knew you would never forgive me if I woke you up too early.”

Draco could hear the faucet beginning to run as a tired, “Thank Merlin you didn’t,” was chroaked before the water sounds were replaced by the sound of Harry brushing his teeth. When Harry emerged from the restroom a few minutes later, he had already changed and somehow gotten his hair more messed up than before, which has, quite honestly, grown a lot on Draco over the few seconds of seeing it. “You ready?”

Draco nodded, grabbing his wand before summoning his bag along with his book from the nightstand and stood up, leaving his empty cup on the table. 

Following Draco as he left the room, Harry hurriedly threw together all his items with a few swishes in his wand before hiding it away in his pocket before any muggle could see it.

As they walked downstairs, the leftover scents from breakfast still hung in the air, now starting to mix with the smell of lunch. The sounds of the buzzers going off in the kitchen almost covering up the rumblings in Harry’s stomach. 

“You know, we should get some extra food for the road before I end up sick from the stacks of candy canes.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Sure, but only to make sure you don’t die from too much sugar before we get back home.”

Harry cast his I-have-the-greatest-idea-that-is-sure-to-do-more-harm-than-good smile before sneaking off in the direction of the kitchen, urging Draco to follow with a tip of his head.

Creeping behind a large display of china plates, Draco could slightly see the piles of food being prepared, still hot and steaming from the oven. The lady that meet them at the door was pulling things off the stove and stirring a few things while dancing around to the faint Christmas music.

Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket, hiding it half in his sleeve just to be safe. As soon as the lady turned her attention to the stove once again, he mumbled a fast accio before several mini sandwiches came flying over to his pocket, only slightly knocking over a few other foods in the process.

“Potter, you do realize that they’re gonna be so messy in there,” Draco chuckled, peering into the coat pocket to see little pieces of lettuce and meat covering the wall, not to mention all the fuzz has already started to cover a few tomatoes. 

“I realize that now.” Harry pushed his wand into a cleaner pocket once again. “At least there only seems to be a little bit of sauce.”

Draco grabbed Harry’s sleeve, tugging at it slightly. “C’mon, we maybe should go before she realizes that her pyramid of food isn’t quite a pyramid anymore.”

Harry nodded, following Draco as they crept out of the house, leaving the room key on the desk with a small little note with just the words thanks and sorry before racing to the car, leaving little footprints behind them carved in the snow that lightly covered the neighborhood from the small storm the night before.

Loading into the car, Draco reached over to turn on the heat as fast as he possibly could before they the coldness could get way too annoying. 

“S-so,” Draco shivered, his body already playing the fun game of being back at its regular temperature but still believing that it was surrounded by ice. “Where t-to next?”

Harry unfolded the crumbled up map from the glove box again, which was more destroyed then before and now held millions of red and black lines, hurriedly thrown on there from the day before. Most of the lines were bumpy or flying in the wrong direction before disappearing and reappearing to continue in the direction, but somehow they still made a little sense to the two of them.

“What if we went over here.” Harry pulled out another red pen, drawing it sloppily onto the paper. “Then we could stop off over here by the water for a fast break. Maybe we could collect some food and have a little picnic for dinner.”

“In the cold?”

“We have warming charms and blankets, we should be fine.”

“Should be?”

“At least if we get sick, we have a little time before Christmas to heal.”

“Two days are barely enough time to get over a cold.”

“Then we will just have to try our very hardest to not get sick.”

Draco chuckled, switching the car into drive and starting down the road far enough so he could turn around without destroying a few mailboxes, making the car jumble out a few unsettling noises as he made the turn around, before pushing it off as having something to do with the cold. They only made it a few seconds away from the house before Harry turned the radio on low so they could hear the faint sound of Jingle Bells as they chatted, staring out into the big open fields that soon surrounded them.


	4. Day 2: December 22 (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda failed in my plan of finishing this before Christmas, so I’m going to try to finish before the new year.

It was already past 5 when Draco flipped on his blinker and turned into the parking lot for a little restaurant with a precious fake baby reindeer right in front of the door (which, once they saw it driving by, turned out to be very persuading.) With a few little bump from the car, Draco found an empty parking place and turned off the car for the 3rd time that day. 

As Draco stepped out of the car, he did a little stretch to finally regain consciousness in most of his tired legs. After joining Harry on the other side of the car, they made their run across the road to the other side before another car could randomly show up and headed inside, giving the reindeer a small pat on the head before they opened the door to hear the little bell ring in delight.

Even though the place was small and not well packed, the scents of whatever tasty things were being made in the back spread throughout the place, not leaving a single corner untouched by the deliciousness. The place set off such a comfy vibe with pictures of different places on the walls, multiple seats of two, and a few couches hidden in the corner with some magazines spread out on the table in front of it. 

Near the front, there was a long desk with the menu spread out behind it and a small person maintaining the counter, occasionally glancing over to the two, clearly ready to do something other than stand around and wait all day. 

Gliding near the direction of the smell and the counter, Harry grabbed Draco’s hand and pulled him along as they both stared up at the menu, reading it all carefully and hungrily. At this point, Draco was just about ready to have anything. The little sandwiches that they “collected” from the hotel were good enough to tide them over till an hour ago (they would of been even better if Draco didn’t have to keep pulling fluff out of them, but even then they still made his tummy dance around with happiness), and the mini candy canes could of only held off the hunger for so long. 

Still not letting go off Draco’s hand for some stupid reason (one that Draco didn’t try to argue too much about), Harry’s eyes scoured the board before landing on one item, glancing towards Draco afterwards to wait until Draco gave any sign that he knew what to order. 

On the menu, there were rows of unique toppings and combinations for different crepes, including dessert versions of them, which, like always, have taken root in the back of Draco’s mind that he will just have to ignore until he gets something actually fulfilling. 

Landing on a sweeter crepe, Draco cast a glance over at Harry, mentally signalling for him to start up the conversation first before the lady interrupted whatever he was about to say with, “Hello, what can I get for you?”

“Hi, yes, um. Can I have a tart cream cheese?” Harry started, staring up at the words as he read them out. 

“Sure, anything else?”

“I’ll have a strawberry, banana, and peanut butter crepe and-” Draco glanced over the drink menu, trying to find the warmest thing- “A hot chocolate.”

“Actually, make that two,” Harry added. 

“Will that be here or to-go?”

“To-go,” Harry replied.

“Alright, your total is $18.20.”

Draco looked over at Harry again, regretting for the second time that he didn’t bring along any muggle money. Harry reached into a small bag in his pocket and pulled out a few green papers before handing them to the lady. 

“Thank you. Your change is $1.80.”

Harry reached out his hand, letting the woman count the money as she placed it on his hand, adding a few coins at the end and a recipe. Harry crunched them up in his hand in an attempt at making sure the coins wouldn’t slip through. He had gotten most of the money back into the pouch when a single bronze coin didn’t quite make it in and fell to the ground before rolling around for a few seconds just to make it more annoying, only stopping when Draco gently placed his foot on it, grabbing it from the ground a second later and tossing it into the bag with the rest of the coins. 

They only had to wait a few minutes after sitting down at a small, metal table with a small vase of flowers in the center before they heard someone in the back shout “A strawberry, banana, and peanut butter crepe, tart cream cheese crepe, and two hot chocos to-go!” and their food appeared moments later at the register. 

Grabbing the food and thanking the lady, they returned to the car and pulled out the map once again. 

__________________________

Pulling slightly into the dirt, they collected the food from the back and set off through the thick trees to get closer to the small lake before the sun could abandon them. 

Finding a small log right in front of where the sogginess of the lake creeps up, they took a seat, finally getting to connect the delicious smells of the food to a sight. 

The log was fairly wet and cold, which was to be expected, and only ad a few little branches poking back up through their layers of pants. Covered with as much clothing as possible, Draco could fear the cold creeping in still, making his whole body begin to shiver, even though it is apparently a warmer day than usual.

Not waiting a second more, Harry started to ruffle through the plastic bag, handing Draco his order first before grabbing his own and placing a rock on the bag to make sure it wouldn’t fly away. 

Sitting in comfortable silence, they began to eat their food as they watched the sun began to approach the top of the water as the wind gently swept against the water, creating little waves in the still water. 

“Hey, Draco.”

Draco attempted at calming himself down from his name being thrown in. “Yea?”

“You’ve eaten these before, right?”

“Of course, they’re amazing.”

“Great, cause I have no clue how to get this thing to stop sliding back down.” Harry’s crepe was rolled in a paper plate, and after being half eaten, it kept getting harder to pull to the top so he could easily eat without getting paper in his mouth.

“Maybe fold the bottom of it once you drag it back to the top, see if that works.”

“Or maybe I could just-” Harry pulled off half of the piece left, pushing the insides out and onto his fingers, he tried folding it up a bit before sticking it into his mouth, cleaning off his fingers once he finished the piece. 

“That works too.” Draco took after Harry, sticking the last small piece into his mouth, folding up and placing his plate back into the empty bag as he chewed. 

With the sun finally setting, casting pastel pinks and purples across the lake and, from what Draco could see, onto Harry’s face. “Hey, I think there’s a little-” he reached across to Harry’s hair, using the almost non-existent light to help, grabbed a little branch with a small green leaf still attached to it out of the curls- “There.” Draco held it in the palm of his hand for a second, before tossing it on the ground. 

“Thanks.” Harry giggled, his laughter blending in with the soft sounds of the grass ruffling from the breeze. “I didn’t even notice it.”

“No problem.” Draco stared at the light reflecting in his glasses for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the real sunset, with a little extra heat finding its ways into his cheeks. 

_____________________________

Once the sun finally disappeared and they figured it was a little too dark and cold to be out wandering unknown woods, they made their way back to the car and drove to a little bed and breakfast only about 3 hours from Hermione and Ron’s house. 

Getting another 2 person room, they fell asleep the moment they arrive, barely having the energy to take their shoes off when they finally fell into the comfy beds, which, even though they would feel uncomfortable to any awake person, felt like the thing on earth to the two of them as they dozed off with most of the lights still on.


End file.
